The article warns that the seemingly endless flow of bailout money flooding from the U.S. Treasury Department to Bear Stearns, AIG, the financial markets, etc., has put the federal share of the nation's economic activity close to $1 out of every $4, the highest level since World War II.

What does this mean for our nation's future? According to the USA Today, economists predict that as this rapid spending spree continues, it could lead to "slower economic growth, higher interest rates, and the likelihood that tax increases or spending cuts will be needed to tame a budget deficit headed toward a record $1 trillion."

It goes on..."Plans being considered by Obama and Democrats in Congress to jump-start the economy would raise federal spending much further. Even if only $150 billion in stimulus gets spent in 2009 while the rest is spent in 2010 or thereafter, it would push the federal share of the economy past 25%."

Senator Kent Conrad, Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee noted that our debt could rise "by more than $1 trillion a year virtually every year for the next 10 years."

As I've said before, Washington needs to stop handing out your money like it's Monopoly money. Each dollar is hard-earned and the men and woman who worked so hard for it deserve more respect from their government than to be treated like an ATM.

President-Elect Barack Obama recently noted in an interview on 60 Minutes that "we shouldn’t worry about the deficit next year or even the year after," but I am concerned that it is precisely that type of lax attitude that will pull the taxpayers and the economy into far deeper economic problems. Future bailouts and more debt will break the backs of American taxpayers. This is something that our nation cannot afford.